your advice on AX8 + headphones without mixer

Barmaleus said:
Received my Fiio A3 yesterday. It is small and neat!
Now need to find cables and connectors to test it out with AX8.
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Interesting! Been looking at those "multimedia" headphone amps, too, so please let me know your results, especially how they handle the line level from the AX8 vs the headphone level from multimedia devices for which their input stage initially is meant for.
 
Been trying the Danish Aiaiai tma-2 young guru edition headphones which have 32 ohm and 120 db and I realized that you did not even need headphone amps when OUT 1 fully turned up. Nevertheless the sound was muffled and spoiled. I then used a small behringer mixer with it. Ah, here came the sun... And a terrific tone out of my headphones, but more stuff to carry around. I also realized that those famous (rather DJ) headphones are to much on the bass side to sound neutral - I rolled 10db of the bass off on my mixer, then it worked. Still the sound felt to "warm" for my taste. But apart from that these headphones are top notch and are very comfortable. Still I will return them and go for the AKG 702 which are known to be flat.
Now I am curious if Barmaleus' new headphone amp is a solution. Mind you, you may need to correct the EQ if the headphone sound does not translate at all to your FRFR monitor. Does the amp work with more EQ settings than only two?
 
So - I tested the Fiio A3 with AX8.

Used an Y cable with two mono 1/4 jacks on one end and a stereo mini-jack on the other. KRK 6400 headphones, 36 ohm.
To me, it sounded just fine. No complaints, really.

STILL, I need to compare it to the headphone output of my SPL Crimson interface. Only then I can say for sure if the Fiio A3 is the real deal.
Hope I can do it today.
 
I just plugged my headphone direct to ax8 output , it still sound ok to me, but maybe it's mono not stereo, but the sound is beyond amazing
 
Alright guys.

I have tested the Fiio A3 and SPL Crimson interface' (which is a very decent piece of gear) headphone outputs.
I have switched the headphones - KRK 6400 - back and forth many times and could not realistically notice difference in sound. What I heard was extremely similar sound. Technically, there IS some difference of course, because these are different pieces of gear. But I could not find it.
Also, when switching, I did not notice any hyped frequencies. To me, at default settings Fiio 3 has a flat EQ (you can flip a switch to add more bass).

For the very specific purpose I had in mind - tiny amp for headphones without a power supply - it works perfectly fine. I can now plug in AX8, turn it on, connect this little amp and play with headphones if I am away from a sound interface.

TL;DR - Fiio A3 works just fine with AX8.
 
The sound of the Fractal modeling engine is too good to bottle neck it on a simple cheap headphone amplifier, if you are serious about tone and what to experience true tube like tone with your cans you need this:

monobloc-0.jpg


BTW you will need to buy 2 as they are mono, but at around 10K a pair they are a steal!
:D:p
 
The audiophile market continues to boggle my mind. I would think that, at some point, there is minimal return. I mean, I've ventured into high-end audio/video shops before, and sure, there's a big difference between their systems and my nice, but reasonable one. But, I guess it's a matter of where you want to spend your money, for those who have it.
 
Barmaleus said:
Alright guys.

I have tested the Fiio A3 and SPL Crimson interface' (which is a very decent piece of gear) headphone outputs.
I have switched the headphones - KRK 6400 - back and forth many times and could not realistically notice difference in sound. What I heard was extremely similar sound. Technically, there IS some difference of course, because these are different pieces of gear. But I could not find it.
Also, when switching, I did not notice any hyped frequencies. To me, at default settings Fiio 3 has a flat EQ (you can flip a switch to add more bass).

For the very specific purpose I had in mind - tiny amp for headphones without a power supply - it works perfectly fine. I can now plug in AX8, turn it on, connect this little amp and play with headphones if I am away from a sound interface.

TL;DR - Fiio A3 works just fine with AX8.
Click to expand...
Great to hear that it worked out!
Still tempted by the concept of the Presonus HP2 as its connected by XLR, but that might simply be over the top.
 
Barmaleus said:
...
Presonus HP2 - looked at the specs. Heavy, does not have rechargeable battery =( And 2x more expensive.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts, but might the balanced outs (XLR) sound better nevertheless?:confused:
I mean you already seem to get very good results with the unbalanced outs and the Fiio A3.

Balanced vs. unbalanced, does it make a notable difference in the signal chain? That's my only remaining question, otherwise I'm sold.
 
@juka
Honestly, I don't know. Only a head to head test of these two solutions would show if there is any noticeable difference in sound.
 
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